the two losses in tampa be symbolic of the entire season. the lapse gave the rays another chance. last night the bullpen allowed one big inning. the offense couldn't dig them out. today it's detwiler and james shields on a collision course in the series finale. 

time to  road. tropicana field and the nats trying to avoid a sweep at the hands of the young rays. bob carpenter, rob dibble. welcome to a sunday afternoon of nats baseball. two young starter this is year. better than 10 inning, only 3 earned runs given up so far. >> zimmermann outstanding. this is the perfect offense in the american league. perfect test for a young kid. gets up against the best offense and starts bringing his best stuff. pitched low enough to win that ballgame. zimmermann came up against the great offense the next night.

jordan was just as solid. he was out eight days because of an injury. he came out of the ballgame way 2-1 lead. the third pitches, here he come, one of the youngest pitch everies on the staff. >> ross detwiler 23 years of age, that 23, 24 thing is where we go next with the young 3rd baseman. zimmermann is the older of the two of the young sackers we see in this series. >> our guy can play third quarter. boy, he can hit it. gets it over the plate, that was yesterday, got us off to a good start. it's great to see is west -- to see the best 3rd baseman on the field. you're looking at two of the

best young 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd baseman in the business. >> longoria 2nd in the american league in rbis are with a total of 58. manny acta addresses that. >> i never look forward to having zimmermann may 3rd -- play 3rd base. if we can take advantage of back to back day, we'll do it. he's very young and in great shape. he's a guy that plays everyday until the last three years until he got hurt. he doesn't complain. he goes out and plays his game. >> manny has done a great job of trying to keep his game fresh. he hasn't been able to give zimmermann a day off. he can give him two days off by

ding him. >> meanwhile here in the area, the fans are hopeful as they come in for this ballgame. they're two games over. 500. - it's on. - ( music playing throughout ) - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com.

nationals baseball on m brought to you in part by southwest airlines. book your next trip at www.southwest.com. and by ge imagination at work. imagine if you will a game on get away day. that's what the nats are hoping for with a record of 16-44. the tampa bay rays played their 56th game of the year. hernandez hitting over .500 in

his last few games. he's trying to get his batting average up over .270 or so. ryan zimmermann is dh. james shields 27 and 29 career. he should be better than 5-5. they haven't given him the run support like they have for andy sonnanstine. >> last year in 33 start t rays were 23-10. he won 23 of his 33 starts. right now, this is his 99th start of his career. finished them off, this guy old plan, 27. he's the oldest pitcher in the rays rotation. >> bob: the rays defensively bottom four in the league. they've made 44 errors.

only seattle with 51 making more. kapler gets to start in left field after homering the win friday night. i don't think the nats pitchers or catcher wills miss crawford not being in the lineup today. we've got curly w's in the house as always. nats trying to improve their road record that stands at 6- 22. >> bob: willie harris leads off. >> rob: be ready. this guy's changeup is almost as -- >> bob: he doesn't walk anybody. he hasn't walked a batter this month. that's over his last 17 plus innings. first pitch fastball. underway at 1:38 eastern time. cloudy skies but still in the 90 range today.

paul has the plate today. crew chief joe west 2nd. paul at 3rd. they play willie harris pretty much straight away. >> bob: foul, 1 1-2. he's only 1 for his last 18. he'll see better pitches to hit in this part of the lineup than he will where he usually hits. had him reaching on that one. the 2nd baseman for the first out. anything notable about this one? adam dunn has always excelled in inner league play. he's had one hit, one rbi, two walks. the nationals one through three

hitters right up there. number one total in all of major leagues. they're averaging 5.6 runs a game. >> rob: if they don't give it to shields, this is one of the worst in getting runs in the major league. >> rob: johnson 2-8 and a walk this weekend. that's a breaking ball in the dirt. 1-1. >> rob: decent curve, decent slider. he's got two changeups. the one is show me change and the other is out change. that comparison and run support, detwiler not getting a whole lot. almost four runs a game. >> bob: shields just under four, third lowest in their league. detwiler the lowest among the

young starting staff for the nationals. >> rob: sometimes there's a guy in the bad luck slot. this is one of their best pitchers last year if not the best. they've had 8 losses in his 13 starts. >> bob: he was their opening day starter. that's got something to do with it when they're pitching against their number one or two guy every time. >> rob: way out in front of the changeup. >> bob: i think when we look back 60s, 70s, all the great pitcher, it makes their job more remarkable. they were matched up every time. >> rob: i would like to know, randy johnson, over his career, what kind of support he got. >> bob: 2-2 to nick. he stays alive with zimmermann the dh on deck. nationals have played 61 games

before today. zimmermann has been a 3rd baseman for every one of them. somebody will have to keep him company in the bottom of these innings. he may not know what to do with himself. this would be a good time for a wired sunday for a dh. >> rob: yes, it would. i don't know how much you would get out of zimmermann. >> bob: 3-2 to nick. foul tipped. nick hits against rays well. montreal played the double rays 12 times from 98 to 01. the expos won 7 of those games. nick johnson a part of some of those ball clubs. he's getting good licks in the 1 1st inning. nats tied against the rays after taking two out of three

at rfk three years ago. james shields is the only tampa bay starter that pitched in that series. he pitched 6 innings. >> rob: he's the oldest on the staff at 27. it's a talented staff. >> bob: career record 27-39, good era. 3.88: he's gone the distance with two shuts out in his career. nick johnson's souvenir day. that got inside on him a little bit. he was checking checking the trademark area on his bat. gallon nick is doing a great job for his pitch total. already up to 15. >> bob: that's going to be in

right field. great at bat for johnson. finally getting something he could pull with tomorrow. they've scored in both first innings of this series with zimmermann going deep last night. >> rob: i like the way ryan walks in, greats greats the catcher and umpire. >> bob: he's a kid that really enjoys playing the game. he plays with a lot of flair and joy. it's good to see somebody that appears to be elated to be out there. he takes a big time rip and fouls it away. he took a big time rip last night. >> rob: don in there. right out near the restaurant. they have a better's eye restaurant behind the tinted

windows. for a moment, somebody thought there would be a fly ball in their soup. [cheering and applause] >> bob: there it is. dining in air condition comfort 400 something feet away. can you eat for three hours? >> rob: can i? i think i can. >> bob: i'm not sure what i would do. that's a walk. nick johnson going to 2nd base. that's called by the 1st 1st base income. shields has his back to him. he picked up this quick. he made a move while he was

looking at 1st base. >> bob: first time he's done that this year. [cheering and applause] >> rob: shields has given up 10 home runs in 88 innings but only three here at the tropicana. he's very stingy when it comes to pitching at home. >> bob: it's early in the ballgame but does johnson going to 2nd maybe alter a bit how shields goes after adam dunn or if he goes after him. >> rob: if he goes after him, it will be a lot of changeups. no, i don't think being on 2nd will alter his game plan. there's another one. if adam tries to pull that ground ball to 2nd baseman and goes the other way, he'll get

an rbi. nice curveball. >> bob: adam dunn now. he is fooled on that. dunn strikes out for the 66th time. flag day today. a military day here on mssn. happy birthday to you. pizza! we got pizza!

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nationals failing to sc tampa bay rays 3rd in the league in the american league hitting .273. 263 runs. down there in the 6th spot, gabe gross is hot. 7 games in a row with 8 rbis. he's 2-6 with a home run in this series. >> bob: crawford the notable absence today. that might help ross detwiler. here's ross in his 6th major league start. the opponents batting average you would call it respectable at .268. >> rob: let's give you the break down here. first inning, got to be more

economical. he's throwing way too many pitches. got to finish the delivery off, come towards home plate, give it everything you've got. all three runs against cincinnati were scored with two outs. >> bob: here's b.j. upton the lead off. do the numbers mean he's tipping too much early in the game? they're seeing everything he's got in the 1st round? >> rob: not necessarily. he needs to finish strong with the catcher before he follows through. as the game goes o he -- goes on, he gets tired and lazy. that arm lacks and gets him behind in the down. gallon. >> bob: b.j. upton 2-8 in this series.

th always huge when you can keep him off base. this is detwiler warming up today. >> rob: notice he throws across his body. see where he lands over here on the side. he should be landing over toward this is side. he lands over that side. then he delivers the ball. as long as he stays over the top of that foot while he's throwing towards the catcher, he's fine. we've talked about this. they've tried to break him of that in the minor leagues. they couldn't do it. he still throws 97 miles per hour. he's got to be conscious of throwing it towards the catcher first then recoiling. >> bob: a changeup, getting a foul ball against burrell. i bet he could count the number of times in his career he's batted 2nd. willie harris, who does he

think he is, zimmermann? willie harris with a great reaction play. i get you zimmermann enjoyed watching that. wow. >> rob: two shots on the first two hitters of the rays. willy is picking it over to 3 3rd base. that a boy. nice job. willie harris can play anywhere. i often forget -- i've always wanted to look in his locker to see how many gloves he has. longoria 2-7 with a couple of rbis over the weekend. he's just out of the top 10 in home runs with 14. >> bob: he's way up there in rbis.

let's look at the nats defense. harris at 3rd, johnson at 1 1st. gonzalez replaces guzman today. dukes plays his third consecutive game starting in the out field. >> rob: detwiler has a fastball, changeup type pitcher. he's got two fastballs. two he throws right there about 90-94 miles per hour. basically a cutter, sinker, a righty. it's going to go away from him. >> bob: we figured longoria would warm up before the nats get out of town. that's three consecutive hits for him after going 0-5. here's carlos pena with three hits and

a home run. >> rob: ross has an excellent curveball. >> bob: here it is. pena will do it again inside the 3rd base bag. >> rob: he's saying, if you're going to give me that, i'll take it. we'll see what ben zobrist can do with it. let's hope ross has more -- he bunts down the 3rd baseline. there you see the break of the ball. >> bob: it's okay. 20 home run, you want to bunt, go right ahead. two out. >> bob: detwiler, first pitch strike, 85 on the straight

change. as we mentioned earlier, ross does a good job of keeping the ball in the ball park. only one home run in 27 plus innings. nick johnson is going to grab it. couple of singles, runners stranded. no score after 1 here in st. pete. been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. for the next minute, i'm gonna show you what it's like to have verizon fios. these are your widgets, they let you put whatever you're watching down here,

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army's birthday, 240 years. the oldest and largest established branch of the u.s. military. we'd like to thank all past and current members for their sacrifice in protecting our country. beat sponsors are backing us up as we absolute -- salute you today. corey patterson will get his first start. elijah drove in two in the first inning friday night. >> bob: shields is interesting hen he starts his delivery. he really rocks back off the rubber and then has a whole lot of momentum coming forward.

>> rob: he's a big man. 6'5", 220 pounds. i agree. when you get to the balanced point -- >> bob: that one was up there. >> rob: he's getting a lot of torque, getting back towards center field. he gets to a ballpoint before delivering the ball. >> bob: this bafe is ak one pper th hits deep and spins up for a ground rule double. duke three hits in this series and second extra base hit. >> rob: see two many balls hit quite as ard as this. scares -- squares up nice. that was a seed hit on the line. that was a double before it hit

the rail. it was over the 8-foot yellow line. the nats have a runner in scoring position. nobody out. corey patterson, this is intriguing. he's very fast. he's good bunter. as we mentioned last night, in times in his career, he's forgotten he's a fast line drive hitter and tried to hit ns. >> rob: he'sgot to put it in his head, he's still so talented, that he's a slasher. >> bob: he's got time in his career. he's 29 years old. >> rob: absolutely. just got to be able to make contact on the ground and run. >> bob: he was running at syracuse .302 6 home in 29 games. that indicates he can hit line iv